Manchester United v Tottenham LIVE: Premier League result and final score as Radu Dragusin makes Spurs debut

Sir Jim Ratcliffe described buying a share of Manchester United as the most exciting thing he has ever done and expects his investment to be ratified by the Premier League within three or four weeks.

The petrochemicals billionaire, who is paying £1.3bn for a 29 percent share of United, is attending his first game since the Glazer family accepted his offer for a minority investment when Erik ten Hag’s side host Tottenham on Sunday.

More here from Richard Jolly:

Are Tottenham title challengers?

Ange Postecoglou thinks they are.

“By definition, we are aren’t we? So, yes,” Postecoglou claimed.

“I’ve said all along that until the point where you’re not, why would you discount the possibility?

“We’ve gone through a really tough period and we’re hanging in there. We had four games when results went against us, but we’ve clawed our way back. We’re still in there.

“Our performances for the most part have been pretty consistent, but all that is meaningless if we don’t finish the season stronger than the first half of the season and that’s what we’ve got to do.”

Spurs would go three points behind Liverpool with a win today, and one behind Manchester City.

It was Everton who finished the game on top, but neither side could find the breakthrough and it ends all square. Villa stay third in the table, while Everton remain just above the drop zone.

Unai Emery has now managed 98 games in England football for Arsenal and Aston Villa, and this is his first goalless draw.

The disaster of Antony: Erik ten Hag’s flagship failure casts a long shadow

Erik ten Hag was considering the problems of a winger who cost Manchester United a fortune. “He caused them, so he has to sort them out,” he said. He was not discussing Jadon Sancho, exiled first to train with the Under-18s and now sent on loan to Borussia Dortmund with this perfunctory farewell from the United manager: “I hope he is doing well. I wish him the best of good luck.”

Instead, he was pondering the plight of another winger with no goals and assists for United this season. Antony has played 21 times to Sancho’s three August appearances, but with the same end product; or lack of it.

By Richard Jolly

Erik ten Hag wished Jadon Sancho luck at Borussia Dortmund but would not be drawn on the winger’s long-term future following the Manchester United misfit’s temporary return to his former club.

The 23-year-old left the Bundesliga side for Old Trafford to much fanfare in 2021, joining in a £73million deal after a long, well-documented pursuit of the England international.

But Sancho has struggled to live up to the hype and been banished since claiming he had been made a “scapegoat” after Ten Hag said he did not reach the “level” required to be involved in their squad at Arsenal.

The winger has been training away from the main group since September and has now returned to Dortmund on loan for the remainder of the season without an option to buy, saying it felt like he was “coming home”.

“I hope he’s doing well, so I wish him the best of luck,” Ten Hag said. “That’s it. I hope he’s doing well and he will be a success.”

The Dutchman has been reluctant to speak about Sancho during his four-month absence and quickly shut down further talk about the United man.

Asked what Sancho has to do at Dortmund in order to get back in the United team, he replied curtly: “No, I already replied. I think it’s enough.”

In the other Premier League match today, at Goodison Park, it’s still goalless between Everton and Aston Villa in what has been a feisty match full of blood and thunder but not a huge amount of quality.

Villa have had the best of it, including a disallowed goal for an innocuous offside in the build-up, but Everton have contested well. Still 10 minutes to go...

Can Spurs end poor ‘big six’ away record?

Ange Postecoglou has no interest in Tottenham’s poor historical record away to the Premier League’s ‘big six’ but has challenged his young team to accelerate their growth by winning those games on the road.

Spurs travel to Old Trafford on Sunday with Manchester United trailing the fifth-placed visitors by eight points after 20 matches.

Tottenham won 6-1 at United in 2020 but have claimed only one victory at Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City or United in the ensuing 16 attempts.

“I’m not a great one at looking at the historical references to these things, I wasn’t there so I don’t know whether there was something endemic in the club that didn’t allow that,” Postecoglou explained. “I just tackle from when I get into a club.

“We went to Arsenal, City (and drew), (beat) Liverpool here, we’ve done OK in those games. Not just results but performance-wise, I don’t think we’ve walked away from any of those games and thought there was a massive gap between us and them.

“Old Trafford is another place where you know the atmosphere is going to be a great challenge for us. It would be good to see how we react to that and how we keep developing as a team.

“It’s an important part of the process. Home comforts are great and we have a great crowd behind us, but if you can do it away from home in adversity I think it accelerates your growth.”

Team news!

So Timo Werner makes his debut for Tottenham after returning to the Premier League on loan from RB Leipzig, and there is a return too for Micky van de Ven with Radu Draguisin taking his place on the bench. There’s no place for Dejan Kulusevski, which is a mighty blow with Son Heung-min away. Rodrigo Bentancur and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is a very Antonio Conte midfield and has not been seen much since last season.

For United, Casemiro and Lisandro Martinez return to the bench. Christian Eriksen starts in midfield alongside Kobbie Mainoo, and Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes and Alejandro Garnacho line up behind Rasmus Hojlund. There is a sense that Erik ten Hag’s side is getting closer to full strength again.

Tottenham team news! Werner starts!

Tottenham XI: Vicario, Porro, Skipp, Romero, Udogie, van de Ven, Bentancur, Hojbjerg, Johnson, Richarlison, Werner

Manchester United team news!

Manchester United XI: Onana, Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Evans, Dalot, Eriksen, Mainoo, Garnacho, Bruno Fernandes, Rashford, Hojlund